September 8, 2016: He will speak to me...

[Rooks]

First.... SQUEE! I get to create the comic thread. I hope I did it right.

Second, Big Ears is the MAN! I cannot wait to see this page colored or what happens in the next few comics. So awesome.

Permalink: http://www.goblinscomic.org/09082016-2/

[Tofu]

That's why we have massive plot twist speculation, so we can all be wrong together. Bravo, great reveal.

[Starling]

Ooooh, sick burn!

I just wonder what clued Big Ears to figure it all out. Cuz just logic ain't gonna cut it.

[Rndom]

Permalink: http://www.goblinscomic.org/09082016-2/

[RocketScientist]

[Restomak]

Well that was pretty badass of Ears.

[Knicholas]

I registered an account just to say that comics like today are why I keep coming back.

Never mind finishing the drawings. Never mind the shadows, which look fantastic.

It's the story. The story is addictive.

[Ansan Gotti]

I just wonder what clued Big Ears to figure it all out. Cuz just logic ain't gonna cut it.

+1

Love the story, but this one threw me... not in the "wow, I totally get it now" way, but in the "wow, where did that come from" way.

[rivkin]

Geez! A great speech on good vs evil, and now this? And I love his expression in the last panel... CMOA for Big Ears?

[Krulle]

First.... SQUEE! I get to create the comic thread. I hope I did it right.

You're lacking the provisional "permalink": http://www.goblinscomic.org/09082016-2/

[Aegis J Hyena]

I would have titled it "Big Words for Big Ears" -- but DAMN. How's THAT for the unyielding paladin spirit in the face (in this case, literally) of evil! Big Ears is telling them to Bring It, and he will BE there when they do.

Bravo, Thunt!

So. Hammer of Prissan, Axe of Prissan, and "the third imprisons the damned." So is Kore the "jailor of the damned" due to the curse? I'm wondering, since if it is a curse, that given a little more time, Forgath might be able to Remove Curse -- that'd "kill" Kore in a way, by removing his "purpose" for a short time...

[Guus]

Well, crisis of faith averted I guess.
Now smack that demon right on his freaky head!

[Orzahn]

I love this page, I like the conclusions drawn and I am wondering if this topic reaches 30 pages like the last great discussion on the old forum.

[Wolfie]

I love this page, I like the conclusions drawn and I am wondering if this topic reaches 30 pages like the last great discussion on the old forum.

That would be an accomplishment in its own right, Orzahn.

This is going to be one of those pages I'll remember for a while and use it as inspiration if ever I decide to play a paladin. (My characters tend towards chaotic at the best of times, so playing Lawful anything is HARD.)

[Guus]

I find lawful pretty comfy to play, just difficult to manage with the rest of the party who are often neutral good at best.

I wonder what conclusions the party will draw about Kore. Does this added information give them usable leverage? Will they be able to actually talk to the guy now that they know something more about him? Well, BE thinks he knows something at least. I wonder what path this will go down.

[QuakeIV]

Well he figured that out awfully quickly.

I wonder if he even has a way to reach hell.

[Formaltide]

I think forcing one of the greatest demons of all time to scream the words "Big Ears" in multiple old languages makes the trip worth it on its own.

Well he figured that out awfully quickly.

I wonder if he even has a way to reach hell.

Kore should know. He's been there before...and he's on his way to the group at the moment.

[Shardstorm]

That's why we have massive plot twist speculation, so we can all be wrong together. Bravo, great reveal.

This. All that salt over what we thought was a bullshit way the axe broke. It just had to be in a paladins hands to break it seems. I love it. I do wonder how Kore ended up losing it.

[White Hawk]

I just came here to say "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

I have NEVER done that before.

[Mockery]

So I'm going out on a limb here and assuming that this is a bit like a virus:

1.) Kore's world is invaded/infected with Hell, and falls.

2.) Kore is cursed, and creates the "Second Prissan".

3.) Kore is sent to Reality #156. The nature of his curse probably encourages him to take actions that accelerate the destruction of the axe, but he loses possession of it somehow.

4.) Time passes.

5.) The axe breaks, the goblin's world is invaded/infected with Hell.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

There's some holes here, but I'm leaning towards this rough shape for now.

[Tofu]

Like @Mockery and others above, there are more things I could speculate on, but the below is what I think rises to the top earliest ... but basically - great page.

We know more about Kore. We know more about the curse. We know more about the threat to reality/realities (ie - in the maze of many, there are many Paladins with an Axe of Prissan - and hey- we have Oblivious - a pretty cool weapon that might just help out here in some twisted yet brilliant way) and we know about BigEars being a fricking awesome clean souled Paladin who is entirely worthy of the role.

Having thought about this, and having engaged the plot speculation engine a bit further (that line is taken from a voluble Girl Genius forum I used to participate on (*sigh* there's another community that has become less active to my regret as the internet splinters communities further)) I have the following thoughts:

1) Demons do not tell the full or partial truth. Things said are there to distort and to manipulate. So, do not trust the demon. Do not trust the demons words. Do not even trust that the demon is a demon. So, Ears has found some rebuttals of those statements of the demon .... they sound good but I dont know if I trust them also. The speculation engine is confused.
2) If there are more than one Prissans, then we have a demon imprisoned in a Paladin's weapon, and a Saint (or the opposite of a Demon) imprisoned in a weapon of a being of pure evil. I so want to see a flashback to when these three entities were created ...
3) If there is a Paladin's weapon in the Goblinsverse, then is there an anti-Paladin's weapon in a Demonic realm that is opposite to the Goblinsverse? What happens when they meet?

[Gift Fastidious]

I too am surprised at the conclusion Big Ears reached, and thought it would be that the flea demon was lying and that the Sacred was either lying and really was the flea demon or only became a deity after being sealed in the axe. Though Big Ears has reason to be more concerned than me about the nature of the sacred as it relates to his supposed failing as a paladin, so it makes sense he'd think of something different.

The flea demon's attempts to get Big Ear's souls appear somewhat weak, in that it isn't even really trying to offer much other than the suffering itself. I'm wondering if it thinks actually trying to get Big Ear's soul right now is futile and simply wants to use the offer as a way to direct the conversation or really thinks this is a good way to convince a mortal to give up their soul. Maybe it wants to be so annoying that its victim offers their soul in exchange for it shutting up already?

[SamWiser]

I too am surprised at the conclusion Big Ears reached, and thought it would be that the flea demon was lying and that the Sacred was either lying and really was the flea demon or only became a deity after being sealed in the axe. Though Big Ears has reason to be more concerned than me about the nature of the sacred as it relates to his supposed failing as a paladin, so it makes sense he'd think of something different.

The flea demon's attempts to get Big Ear's souls appear somewhat weak, in that it isn't even really trying to offer much other than the suffering itself. I'm wondering if it thinks actually trying to get Big Ear's soul right now is futile and simply wants to use the offer as a way to direct the conversation or really thinks this is a good way to convince a mortal to give up their soul. Maybe it wants to be so annoying that its victim offers their soul in exchange for it shutting up already?

Well, he's been trapped in the axe for a long time. Maybe he's just really, really, out of practice at taking souls.

Also, does anybody else remember the Hammer of Jale? It seems like that's what they are talking about for the second prissan. At least, very similar.

[(^_^)]

The flea demon's attempts to get Big Ear's souls appear somewhat weak, in that it isn't even really trying to offer much other than the suffering itself. I'm wondering if it thinks actually trying to get Big Ear's soul right now is futile and simply wants to use the offer as a way to direct the conversation or really thinks this is a good way to convince a mortal to give up their soul. Maybe it wants to be so annoying that its victim offers their soul in exchange for it shutting up already?

He is not offering suffering, not directly. There is likely to be some suffering down the road, but that is there regardless of who gets his soul first.
He is offering to take his soul and let demon worry about all bigger fishes rather than BE getting ripped appart by them.
Something like "die peacefully, then eternity of torment" vs "lots of torture, die horribly, then eternity of torture"

[WearsHats]

Ears taking a level in badass. (Thunt said on the livestream that he did actually just level up.)

My understanding of this page seems to be different than several people above in various ways. The way I read it:

Kore is from our reality. (The legends say the Greyhill paladins - of which he is the last - existed in our reality before the battle, and Ears specifically said Kore returned to this reality, meaning he had come from there.) The Greyhill paladins fought demons. It's not clear who started that fight or where it started, but the paladins gathered to fight a demon incursion and the battle ended in hell. They lost. All of them died except Kore, who returned with the newly created Axe of Prissan. The Axe was modeled on the Hammer of Prissan (which is not the Hammer of Jale - that's an alternate reality version of the Axe of Prissan). The Hammer requires evil acts to fortify it in order to trap something (which is incredibly pure and a powerful force for Good). Additionally, a third Prissan was created which traps damned souls.

Kore may be the third Prissan. Or he could be tied to the first one. But he was cursed by the demons.

The Axe has long been wielded by paladins. Acts of good strengthen it, holding closed a portal to hell. But the demons tricked the paladins (perhaps under a curse or compulsion). The demons knew the Axe would fail eventually. (Demons are immortal, and powerful demons have no problem waiting millennia for a plan to come to fruition.) Probably, coming into contact with Kore (who has been tainted/cursed by demons) is what broke the Axe.

The issue is that the Sacred (we need a better name for him) is too big to cross through a regular portal from hell. The bigger and more powerful the demon, the bigger the portal it needs. Ears, hearing that, realized that Sacred could not have crossed over before because it's too big and powerful. So the Axe is a Trojan horse.

Possibly this started because there was a large hell portal that the paladins gathered to close (in which case they had some success). That portal would have been big enough to require the intervention of an entire order of paladins, but still not big enough for the Sacred to cross over.

The other possibility is that the Greyhill paladins themselves opened a portal to hell in order to fight demons there. Such things have happened in other D&D stories, for one reason or another. Usually because the good guys have an overwhelming need to rescue/retrieve some person or artifact. A quest important enough to take such huge risks. But, especially in light of the legends of the battle, the first scenario is more likely.

As for Al Dente (my name for the flea demon), he is what he says he is and what Complains senses he is. A minor demon, one of the first to cross over because he's small enough to fit through the portal when it's only just begun to open. (This is happening across the realm, with more fleas appearing everywhere.) He's giving out information because he's trying to brag and to impress upon the GAP how thoroughly hopeless the situation is. (Thunt has said that much in the livestream.) He wants them to give up and surrender to him so he can claim them as food/currency, so he's telling them a slanted version of the truth. What he says is true, but he has an agenda - to scare and belittle the mortals near to hand in an attempt to claim them before the bigger demons break through. Ears is seeing through his half-truths to put the pieces together.

As for Remove Curse, I seriously doubt that a single low-level cleric would have the power to remove such a powerful and significant curse.